She was actually a woman named Heidi Balch, who had used various identities throughout the years. He said he had demanded an attorney 20 times. (Photo by Neil Schneider/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images), "When we first started talking, it was kind of awkward," said Mladinich. It was really unnerving., Marie Alonso, left,mother of Joel Rifkin victim Anna Lopez, shares an emotional moment with Margarita Gonzales,mother of victim Jenny Soto, outside of Nassau County Court in Mineolaon July 7, 1993. The Associated Press contributed to this report. We have to be more aware when we see people who have been exposed to so much meanness, so much emotional brutality, physical brutality. The coroner blamed her death on a drug overdose, and Jacobs was buried in Potters Field cemetery, unidentified until Rifkin confessed her murder two years later. Corcoran said it played a role in his promotion from lieutenant to captain. Back at the landscaping lot, Rifkin stuffed her into an oil drum, drove her body to Brooklyn and dropped it into Coney Island Creek. They are continuously looking for dynamic, speed and competition, always being the first in everything - from work to social gatherings. Instead, he was a rather meek, unassuming child. Before Rifkin left for college, hedrove to New York City and picked up a sex workerfor the first time. The 31-year-olds body was later found inside a plastic bag, stuffed into a cardboard box and thrown into the Hudson River. It seemed like the only people who noticed him were his childhood tormenters,he thought. They also sought to suppress his initial admission of Brescianis murder, made at the time of his arrest, while claiming that police had lacked sufficient probable cause for a legal search of Rifkins truck. March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM Every issue of Serial of Serial Killer Magazine we sell. Soto also had a past record for prostitution, but her family insisted she had been getting her life together before she was killed. After listless sex, Susie again asked Joel to take her out in search of drugs. This perfect bound Serial Killer Calendar book includes detailed facts and trivia about serial killers for every day of the year. In early 1994, it was reported that Rifkin had engaged in a jailhouse scuffle with mass murderer Colin Ferguson. This guy seems like the real deal.". Their recorded conversations are the focus of a new true-crime documentary titled "Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer," which is part of Oxygen channels "Serial Killer Week.". After the Giant game, he says, I realized that this this problem isn't going away.. WebJoel David Rifkin (born January 20, 1959) is an American serial killer who was sentenced to 203 years in prison for the murders of nine women between 1989 and 1993, though he is believed to have killed up to 17 victims in all. In 2002, New Yorks Supreme Court rejected Rifkins appeal of his convictions for the murder of nine women. In retrospect, a shockingly prophetic moment happens when Elaine comes up with a suggestion after reading a sports magazine. And Rifkin told WCBS-TV in 2011 that his victim count would have likely been much higher if he hadnt been arrested in 1993. Hes not the murderer, she reassures. He will be eligible for parole in 2197. Rifkin initially claimed he had blacked out, but soon admitted that Bresciani had not been his only victim. The crowd stops cheering and squirm, while Elaine does damage control. "He said he wanted to feel some remorse or feel some humanity towards them. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. He was later acquitted. With 25-year-old Iris Sanchez, strangled in April 1992, he simply drove to JFK Airport and left her body in a vacant lot, beneath a mattress. What is the current air quality in Salem Oregon? O.J. The break came in 2013 when investigators discovered that Balch, who had been reported missing by her aunt in 2001, had also used the name Susan Spencer. They were able to successfully match her to the remains, according to the AP. The other parts went into garbage bags and then into his mothers car. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Rifkins bedroom reading material included a book on the unidentified Green River Killer and news clippings about the case of New York serial slayer Arthur Shawcross. Joel Rifkin, 34, is transferred to District Court 29 June, 1993 in Farmingdale, NY after police said he confessed to killing as many as 17 women. He is now the district executive for the federal courts in the Eastern District of New York. How did Rifkin become such a vicious murderer? Prosecutor Fred Klein described Rifkin as a killing machine who acted in deliberate, premediated and methodical ways to carry out his gruesome murders. There, Rifkin testified himself in a pretrial hearing to contest that his confession was voluntary. SERIAL KILLER MAGAZINE is an official release of the talented artists and writers at SerialKillerCalendar.com. Good works notwithstanding, Rifkin had no luck in his bids to escape solitary confinement. From 1989 to 1993, a serial killer stalked New York City. "And he kept saying things like, 'I killed that one. In November, he pleaded guilty to the Sanchez homicide in Queens and to three more counts in Brooklyn: victims Orvieto, Holloman and the Jane Doe killed in 1992. He never relishedtalking about these horrible crimes. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Rifkin then asked for paper, a pen, a map and a calendar, and wrote out a list of 17 victims, how he killed them and where he left them. They never kill the neighbor. A formal suppression hearing was scheduled for November, but Rifkin had other plans. And she had fake nails and those were ripped off when she fought him.. Ruane and Spaargaren called for backup as they pursued their quarry at nearly 90 miles an hour. Pittsburgh woman missing for 31 years found alive in Puerto Rico, School shooting survivor has emotional audition on "American Idol", exclusive 2011 interview with CBS-2's Mary Calvi. I was completely numb. Family (1) Spouse Iva Rifkin ( 28 August 1966 - present) Trivia (10) Years of pent-up anger and humiliation craved release. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson. State Police Sgt. Barbara Jacobs was the next to die, a 31-year-old addict with arrests on her record for auto theft and prostitution. He researched past crimes for details. Corcoran had troopers take Rifkin to Troop L, located then on the grounds of Republic Airport in East Farmingdale where Rifkin was headed that night to bury that body. In this exclusive sneak peek from April 10's new Oxygen special, Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer, Joel Rifkin detailed a murder he committed. (Photo by Neil Schneider/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images). By March 1994 Wexner had heard enough to reject the various defense motions outright and hold Rifkin for trial, scheduled for mid-April. "Last Christmas (1991) she came home and we begged and begged her not to go back to New York," she said. The murders spanned four years, and all the victims were described as prostitutes by Rifkin, though surviving relatives of several vocally dispute his claim. Theyre perfectionists who enjoy finer things but are not perceived as snobs. Put off by the thought of another dismemberment, Rifkin wrapped Jacobs in plastic, folded her into a cardboard box, and placed her in the back of his mothers Toyota pickup. She had pieces of skin under her fingernails, her sister Margarita Gonzales told The Associated Press in 1993. When they signaled for him to pull over, Rifkin kept driving. The murder, detectives gathered, was not his first. A telephone call from police told 71-year-old Jeanne Rifkin that her son had been detained after a traffic accident. "None of them were throwaways.". However, a drug problem resulted in sex work to feed her addiction, Newsday reported. In many ways, it was almost like a tsunami.. Three months later, he killed Leah Evens and left her in rural Northampton, where her skeleton was found on Mothers Day. By the time Rifkin found her, in the predawn hours of June 24, 1993, she was his second hooker of the night--his fourth within two days. He also pleaded guilty to two murders in neighboring Suffolk County. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images). He has been married to Iva Rifkin since August 28, 1966. Her severed head was found on a golf course and her legs were found in Jefferson Township, the Times of Trenton reported. Growing up, he struggled with confidence and lacked a natural athletic ability, which frustrated his father. On August 22, 1987, Rifkin was arrested in Hempstead, Long Island, for soliciting a prostitute. Jenny Soto was the last victim of 1992, a 23-year-old addict whose many trips to detox never turned her life around. "They would suspect a serial killer was on the loose and his car would have easily been spotted by cameras.". I had sex with her, then things went bad and I strangled her. He remembered her tattoos, a pickup in Manhattan, and the way she fought for life when he began to strangle her. This is someone whos trying to show you to be a sadistic killer., Joel Rifkin listens to the guilty verdict against him in Nassau County Court in Mineola on May 9, 1994,in the killingof Tiffany Bresciani. Lawrence said preparing for hearings and the trial with Rifkin was bizarre. On December 14, 2001, Rifkin lost his latest appeal of his conviction. On March 5, 1989, a member of the Hopewell Valley Golf Club sliced his ball into the woods along the seventh green and found the can containing Susies head. (Photo by Rick Maiman/Sygma via Getty Images), "If these crimes were happening today, I think the police would have made the connection quickly," he shared. Thats why he volunteered to have brain scans whenever they became available and he was willing to talk to mental health professionals. In interviews this month, investigators and lawyers shared their memories of the case that stunned Long Island 25 years ago, and the effects it had on their lives. Rifkin arrived at Attica state prison in February 1996, sporting a black eye from his first assault by fellow inmates while confined on Rikers Island. Winded from the battle, Rifkin claimed her bra and panties, earrings, ID cards and drug syringe as trophies for his cache. JODI ARIAS APPEARED FRIENDLY AFTER TRAVIS ALEXANDERS BRUTAL MURDER, EXPRESSED REMORSE FOR HIS DEATH: DOC, Serial killer Joel Rifkin led cops to the skeleton of one victim at the outskirts of New York City's Kennedy International Airport. When the troopers used their siren, he appeared oblivious; likewise when Ruane got on the loudspeaker and ordered him to stop. "Water is harder to investigate than land because it washes everything," he said. Credit: Randee Daddona. During his trial, Rifkin was represented by Mineola-based attorney John Lawrence. Rifkin could not recall the name of number six, murdered a few days shy of Christmas 1991. Rifkin was AWOL from his part-time job at an East Meadow liquor store, looking for trouble. Maryann Holloman, age 39, was retrieved from Coney Island Creek in her oil drum on July 9, two days before passers-by found the skeletal remains of Lorraine Orvieto nearby. Over the next four years, he killed 16 more prostitutes. Next to him is his attorney, John Lawrence of Mineola. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a2a73bfae92a8aa Tune in on Oxygen April 10 to April 18. "She did not come home this Christmas, so we knew something was wrong.". They were so decomposed that no signs of violence were visible, and medical examiners had mistakenly concluded that some had died of drug overdoses, he said. At the police station, Rifkin was asked if he had killed anybody else. That explained Rifkins use of Noxema. June 29, 1993. He had picked up a sex workernamed Susie, according to a 2013The Associated Pressarticle. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. He offered no resistance as police removed him from the pickup, frisked him for weapons and removed an X-acto knife from his pocket. Instead of keeping him away from prostitutes, the incident made him more devious. He bought Williams a fix that night, then tried to choke her when she dozed off in his mothers car. According to Robert Mladinich in From the Mouth of the Monster, Joels fantasies included some bondage and some rape, plus a gladiator type thing with two girls that would fight to the death. In some daydreams he raped and stabbed women, but his fantasy victims were silent, just passive about it. After a 1972 viewing of Alfred Hitchcocks Frenzy, loosely based on Londons Jack the Ripper homicides of 1964-65, he fixated on strangling prostitutes. She was found on September 23--eight days before DeLuca--floating past Randalls Island, at the Harlem Rivers mouth. Joel Rifkin is now serving 203 years to life in the Clinton, N.Y. correctional facility. When police later searched his mothers home, they found a treasure trove of mementos that Rifkin had saved from his victims,including drivers licenses, their underwear, jewelry, and other trophies, according to a 2018Newsdayarticle.